Top Zenefits Competitors: The Best Zenefits Alternatives for Your Business

As it turns out, if you create an easy-to-use HRIS that makes signing up for company-sponsored insurance intuitive and offer it to businesses for free, people will pay attention.

Such is the case for Zenefits, the San Francisco-based disruptor that has exploded since 2012 into a $4.5 billion HR software juggernaut used by thousands of small to midsize businesses. It was rated the fifth most popular HR product in Software Advice’s recent ranking.

The platform offers integrated personnel tracking, onboarding, payroll, benefits administration, time and attendance and compliance management in one sleek package.

Resources

Zenefits users can tell you: it’s a great system. But maybe it’s not quite in line with what you’re looking for. Don’t fret. At Software Advice, we research hundreds of different HR systems to help buyers like you find the right one.

Here are our top five recommended Zenefits competitors and alternatives.

Most Asked-About Zenefits Competitors

For this first group of products, we looked to see which ones prospective buyers were comparing with Zenefits the most. These are brands with a high level of online popularity.

Like Zenefits, Gusto prides itself on its intuitive self-service functionality for things such as onboarding and signing up for benefits.

For HR users, Gusto includes flexible payment schedules and pay rates that run automatically. Local, state and federal taxes are calculated, paid and filed with no need for human intervention.

Though it’s not free like Zenefits, Gusto comes with a straightforward price point: $29 base fee plus $6 per employee per month. If you’re looking for a quality Zenefits competitor, Gusto is a great place to start.

RUN Powered by ADP

ADP has also expanded its offerings in recent years to cover core HR needs beyond payroll. Their solution for small businesses is called RUN. It’s perfect for startups or those with limited HR experience—many of its customers have 10 employees or fewer.

The base offering includes payroll, tax filing and limited time and attendance. More comprehensive RUN packages add on personnel tracking, document management and recruiting and applicant tracking functionality.

You’ll also have access to ADP’s wealth of federal documents and best practices information.

Top User-Rated Zenefits Competitors

With the popular alternatives done, let’s take a look at some less recognizable products. These each have comparable functionality to Zenefits are rated very positively on Software Advice by users.

APS OnLine

It seems former payroll companies have a knack for HRIS. Automatic Payroll Systems, or APS, debuted their cloud-based core HR offering, APS OnLine, in 2004. Users have been praising the easy to learn user interface and helpful support staff ever since.

Manager and employee self-service are built-in, along with centralized event tracking and APS dashboards for automated reporting and better visualization and transparency into your HR processes. There’s also a specialized Affordable Care Act (ACA) module to e-file necessary paperwork.

One user writes that APS OnLine is “extremely user friendly” and that the vendor’s support staff “is very attentive when any questions arise.”

Namely

Like Zenefits, Namely has turned investor heads with its combination of intuitive software and compliance expertise. Customers are responding in kind: According to Namely’s website, they’ve doubled their client base in the last year, reaching 400 companies.

Namely offers core HR functionality and performance management in-suite. Along with organizational charts, task management and document storage, there is a social news feed to engage employees, post important announcements and give feedback.

One reviewer says Namely is incredibly streamlined, calling it “seamless” on the backend and “extremely clean and neat” for front-end users.

BambooHR

In this case, we may be saving the best for last. Ranked as our most popular HR product, BambooHR has become a staple for small companies transitioning to software from manual methods.

Along with core HR capabilities, this cloud-based platform has functionality for applicant tracking and performance management. You can track time off requests and approvals, manage user permission levels, generate reports and customize fields and dashboard tabs.

One BambooHR user says it’s “simple and flexible, with no unnecessary heavy functionality and competent and fast support.”

Next Steps

Though Zenefits is a great platform for small businesses, it’s not perfect for everyone. The five platforms above are more than suitable as alternatives.

If you’d like to learn more about these products, you can check out our free price quotes and demos. If these options still don’t meet your needs, head to our HR software page. You can filter and compare over 300 systems to create a personalized shortlist of your own.